The Bonds of Friendship
by liebedance
Summary: Remus and Lily bond while their boyfriends cause trouble. And their friendship becomes something neither of them could live without. Mentions of R/S and J/L. No R/L.


[A/N: written for my dear friend, museme87]

* * *

"Remus, do you have a moment?" Lily asked as she approached Remus. He was sitting alone in an armchair by the fire, a lost look in his sunken eyes.

"Sure, Lily," he said quietly, turning to look at her. "What's up?"

"Well..." Lily started, unsure how to phrase it. She sat on the arm of his chair, and looked at her friend solemnly. "Severus told me. About the other night. And I just wanted to know... it isn't true, is it Remus?"

Lily heard his breath catch as his eyes widened. He didn't say anything, just looked at Lily with an air of apprehension.

"You're speaking with Snape?" Remus asked, avoiding Lily's question. "I thought... after last June..."

"Not really, no," Lily admitted. "He just cornered me in the corridor. I told him to bugger off, but you know him. He always has to get the last word in. But, about what he said... If you don't want to tell me, it's fine. But do know, Remus, that I won't hold it against you. I didn't grow up with the same prejudices as the rest of the Wizarding World. In my childhood fairy tales, witches were the bad guys, and look how wrong that's proved."

"It's true," Remus whispered, avoiding Lily's eyes.

"I'm so sorry," Lily whispered back, placing her hand on Remus' shoulder. "I had no idea. But, I'm not going anywhere."

"I... I appreciate it," Remus said, turning to look at Lily, his eyes slightly too bright.

"And this, this thing that's going on with the four of you," Lily continued, "It has something to do with _that_, and with Snape?"

"It does," Remus admitted.

"Things will work out," Lily assured him. "Whatever's happened, you'll get through it."

"I hope so," Remus said with sigh. "And it really does mean a lot to me, Lily."

"Sometimes friendships are too important to lose over stupid prejudices," Lily whispered, squeezing his hand and smiling down at him.

* * *

"How do you deal with this?" Lily asked as she dropped her school bag and sank down into the couch beside Remus.

"How do I deal with what?" Remus asked, looking up from his potions notes and blinking at Lily in mild confusion.

"With _that_" Lily answered, waving a hand towards where James and Sirius sat whispering conspiratorially.

"Oh…" Remus said, a slight frown forming on his lips as he looked where Lily had indicated. "Six plus years of experience, I suppose."

"And it doesn't drive you absolutely mad?" Lily asked incredulously. She couldn't help but stare at her boyfriend and his best friend as they planned what was sure to be nothing but trouble.

"To be fair," Remus replied with a slight chuckle, "I've been in on a fair few of their schemes over the years, Lily. You know that. I can't completely begrudge them their fun when, if they were to give the signal, I'd join in without a second thought."

Remus sighed, glancing once more at the two boys in the corner, before turning back to his work.

Lily looked at James and Sirius and then back at Remus. Something in the way his eyes had lingered on the pair made her want to laugh, but not because it was remotely funny. Lily could see a hint of something – was it longing? – in his eyes.

"Remus Lupin," Lily admonished, "you aren't jealous of James, are you?"

"That'd be silly," Remus replied hastily, but Lily didn't miss the red tint that crept onto his ears. "James and Sirius… they're close, but not like that. There's no reason for me to be jealous. Especially now that James has you."

"And, yet," Lily said softly, placing a hand on Remus shoulder and looking at him gently, "you don't deny your jealousy."

Remus glanced over at James and Sirius. Both were so completely absorbed in their conversation that they may as well have been in their own world. He looked back at Lily, who was biting her lower lip and furrowing her eyebrows in mild concern.

"No," he conceded. "I don't."

* * *

"Sometimes I wonder how I ended up here," Lily murmured as she watched James lust over a new broom in _Quality Quidditch Supplies_.

"Me, too," Remus agreed. "I always insist that I won't ever go to _Quality Quidditch Supplies_, but sometimes I am powerless when it comes to Sirius. Still, since you're here this time, I'd hoped I would have some will of resistance, even if it meant visiting the Apothecary."

"I didn't mean this shop," Lily said. She turned to look to look at Remus, unsure if she should voice the thoughts that had been plaguing her for weeks. She hadn't been able to say them to James, because he wouldn't _get_ it.

But, Remus had been her friend since second year at Hogwarts, when she'd realised that, despite hanging out with James and Sirius, he wasn't that bad. They'd been prefects together in fifth year, and in seventh it had been Remus who Lily had gone to crying over the fact that she did, in fact, fancy James. And, in the months since they'd left Hogwarts, Remus had been the only friend of hers she still talked to regularly. If anybody would understand where she was coming from, it was Remus.

"How did I get _here_ with James?"

"What do you mean?" Remus furrowed his eyebrows. "You do like being with James, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, of course. I love him," Lily answered immediately. "What I mean is… Well, James is from good Wizarding stock, a well bred pureblood. And I'm… I'm muggle-born."

"James doesn't see it like that," Remus offered, placing his hand on Lily's arm.

"I know he doesn't," Lily sighed, looking over at the boys as they moved away from the new broom and towards a Chaser's glove display. "But other people do. And as lovely as his mum is, as welcoming she is to me, I just don't feel like I fit. Not when I'm at the manor, not when I'm at those events that she throws. I am – and I always will be – the muggle-born who married in."

"They can't understand. I love Sirius, and James is like a brother to me, but they just can't understand," Remus answered as he, too, let his eyes wander to James and Sirius. He stared at them for a moment before sighing and returning his gaze to Lily. "Though Sirius was disowned and rebellious – and continues to be rebellious – there's that hint of aristocracy that never will go away. He and James… they may be called blood-traitors, people may see Sirius as bad blood, but with time, that will fade. It won't for us."

"I'll always be muggle-born."

"And I'll always be a werewolf."

* * *

"They should've been back ages ago," Lily cried as she paced back and forth across the small living room in Remus and Sirius' flat.

"I'm sure they're fine, Lils," Remus said from his position on the couch, but he, too, was frowning. "Maybe they stopped for a drink and lost track of time."

"A drink on their way back from the grocery store?" Lily asked, her voice rising in pitch.

"It's James and Sirius," Remus deadpanned.

"Remind me to never let them go grocery shopping again," Lily moaned, finally ceasing her pacing and sinking down next to Remus. She let her head rest on his shoulder before she continued, "They get distracted too easily. How am I to know if they were attacked by Death Eaters or if they came across an abandoned Quaffle and started an impromptu game of Quidditch? It drives me mad!"

"Me, too," Remus admitted, taking Lily's hand. "Each day – each moment – could be the last. I don't think they quite realise it. Or, if they do, they pretend not to. It'd scare them too much."

"They should be scared," Lily said, sighing and looking out of the window at the darkening sky. "I'm terrified."

"So am I," Remus whispered. "But, I don't know if I want them to be… for something to change them…"

"I-" But Lily's response was cut off by a loud-sounding engine. "What the…?" Lily rose from the couch and went over to the window. Pulling up to the building atop a large black Muggle motorcycle were James and Sirius.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Lily screamed down at the two of them as they dismounted.

"A motor bike!" Sirius shouted back proudly, an exhilarated smile on his face. "Just bought it!"

"You bought a motor bike?" Lily asked, just loud enough for them to hear.

"Yeah, he did!" James answered, smiling wickedly.

"And this motor bike is the reason a quick trip for groceries took over three hours?"

"Groceries?" James asked, his smile fading as he glanced at Sirius. Sirius' grin failed as well, and Lily could just barely make out the profanity he uttered.

"That's it," Lily said, throwing up her hands and turning away from the window to face an exasperated Remus. "Take my wand, Moony, because otherwise, Merlin help me, those two will not walk right for a month."

* * *

"Oh thank God you're okay," Lily sobbed, throwing herself into Remus arms as soon as she arrived in the in-patient ward at St Mungo's. "Moody just floo-ed me. What happened? He said that James was okay, and Sirius, but that's all. God, were they being idiots? Please tell me they weren't doing anything stupid. Jams and I talked. He said he wasn't going to play the hero and do anything stupid…"

"Shh, Lily, it's okay," Remus murmured as he held her shaking body.

Lily clung to Remus as she cried. Her belly was round now, protruding more than it had the last time she'd seen Remus, nearly a month previously, and it made the hug different. But the feeling was familiar enough to give Lily the comfort she needed.

"They weren't being stupid," Remus assured her, once her crying had quieted. "We were just outnumbered."

"Lily looked up at Remus. She only just noticed that he, too, looked thoroughly beaten up. There was a nasty gash on his head, and his shirt was torn, revealing blue and purple bruises. Lily bit her lip and searched Remus' amber eyes with her green ones.

"I'm fine," Remus said, answering her unasked query. "And James and Sirius will be fine, too. They weren't hit with anything too bad. The Healers said they're mostly just sleeping off their injuries, now. They'll be fine."

"They better be," Lily replied with a weak chuckle. She stepped back from Remus and rested her hands on her stomach. "My baby _is_ going to have his father."

"I don't think that Voldemort himself could prevent James from living to see that baby," Remus replied. "It was all he was talking about during the mission before Moody told him to shut up and focus. And, even then, we could see it in his eyes. I thought that when you first said yes to James that he'd never be happier, but I was wrong."

"And you, Remus," Lily said, "Are you happy?"

"Yes," Remus answered, a smile playing on his lips as he glanced back towards the room Sirius and James were lying in. "I am."

"Excuse me." A Healther approached them. "Mr. Lupin, we are done testing. You can go in and see your friends now." He turned to Lily, "You are Mrs. Potter, I presume?"

Lily nodded.

"You're husband is going to be just fine," he reassured her. "He may be a bit sore, but he'll be fine."

"Thank you," Lily said. She turned to Remus. He nodded, and reached for her hand as had become so customary over the years. Holding Remus' hand wasn't like holding James', the former's was smaller and not quite as calloused. And, Lily was sure that her hand was nothing like Sirius'. But there was a certain reassurance in the familiarity, a promise that they would make it through the stupidity, not just of the war, but of the men that they loved.

* * *

[A/N: Thoughts?]


End file.
